I can't lose you
by Stroppy Poppy
Summary: Pepper is scared for Tony's life when Gene starts to follow them, will her worst nightmare come true or is Tony just a decoy for Gene's revenge on Pepper?
1. Chapter 1

Pepper was staying over at Tony's, (her Dad had to go on an undercover job to dangerous to have Pepper around with,) but ever since Gene told them he was The Mandarin then tried to kill them, she was having the same nightmare over and over again. This was the first time she had it at Tony and Rhodey's house, Tony came rushing in when he heard her scream, "Pepper! What happened?" He was wearing his old blue jeans with the red stripe from the knee down. He wore a pair out and a pair to bed, he didn't have his shirt on so his heart implant was the only light in the room also he had the iron man gauntlet on his hand, charged and ready to fire. Rhodey ran in next in his care bears Pj's, he made a bet with Tony that Gene was a villain, Tony said if he turned out to be a villain Rhodey had to wear those Pj's, enough said. Pepper was still fast asleep, still thrashing about and screaming, Tony dumped the gauntlet and ran over to her bed, "Pepper, Pepper wake up!" He said shaking her, "Dude, she's in too deep a sleep, but whatever is happening, she must be terrified."

Pepper was running as fast as she could to get away from The Mandarin, she would turn one corner to find her friend Gene standing there making sarcastic jokes then a second later he was chasing her again as the Mandarin. Iron Man tried to stop him but Gene flicked him away like a bug. The deeper she got into the dream the weirder it got, then she came to a corner, Gene was closing in on her and Iron Man was shattered in the background, she yelled Tony but there was no movement in the armour, and no witty remarks at Gene from inside the armour. Gene COULD beat Tony, Gene COULD get past Rhodey, so how long was it until he got to her, she didn't have an armour to hide behind. "Pepper, Pepper, Pepper!" she flinched as Gene got closer then suddenly she was back in Tony's spare room, "Pepper wake up!" She shot up to see Rhodey nearly asleep and Tony sitting at the edge of her bed with a worried look on his face. "Tony? What are you..." then it dawned on her, "oh no, not the dream again!" he slumped back onto her bed, Tony was even more worried,  
"Pepper, if you keep having the same dream you need to tell someone!"  
"Yeah, like I would tell them who Iron Man was and who the Mandarin was...opps" She covered he mouth and slumped back into bed. Tony was hurt, If he wasn't Iron Man or if Pepper never found out who he was then she wouldn't have nightmares about him. "Tony, It isn't Iron Man, You're just in it, kinda."  
"What do you mean 'kinda'"  
"I can't tell you."  
"Why not!"  
"Because the part you're in is the scary part!" Tony's jaw dropped, HE was the villain. Pepper realised how it sounded and corrected herself, "Alright fine! Gene kills you and that freaked me out because if you weren't trying to get me out of there then he wouldn't have killed you then he wouldn't have got to Rhodey and, and..." Pepper broke down crying, she wasn't going to say how it ended, the dream she just had was one of the nicer ones, and normally Tony was killed as Tony not Iron Man, which was even harder to deal with. Tony looked shocked, her nightmare, was him dying. Even while comforting her that was all he could think about.


	2. Chapter 2

Gene was in his new hideout. TH=here were pictures of Tony and Pepper pinned to the walls, like some crazy obsession. Then he got the call he'd been waiting for, "Ghost? Yes I need you to eliminate some lose ends for me." He said with a smile.

Pepper ran into the armoury, "Tony, we're going to the late for school, and we have that drama in class today, 1/3 of our grade!" Pepper squealed, Tony smiled, he liked working on romantic scenes with Pepper, "Midsummer's night dream, right?" Everyone in love with the wrong person, how accurate he thought. Rhodey came into the armoury after Pepper, c'mon guys, we got to go now!" he said grabbing Pepper and Tony by the arms. On their way to school something didn't seem right, like they were being watched; would Gene still be at school? The unfortunate answer was yes, Pepper and Tony shared all classes with him. He smiled when they came into home room. Pepper was going to sit next to Tony in every class no way was Gene getting to him; she wouldn't sit by and watch her nightmare unfold.

People had started talking about what was going on between Tony and Gene, Gene seemed to be 'running' into him a lot, and he just ignored him. Pepper didn't like that one bit. So that's Genes plan, bumping of Tony, No Tony no Iron Man, it made sense, Pepper thought. It was only when they were all walking home did they discover Gene's true plan, there was an eerie silence, The Ghost appeared on the rooftop and Tony noticed him, the ghost made his shpt but before Tony could say "Look out!" it had hit its target.


	3. Chapter 3

"Pepper? Oh my gosh, Pepper! PEPPER GET UP!" Tony yelled, Ghost had hit his intended target, Pepper Potts. The shot hit her in the chest, but no one else was around to help them, "Tony, we need to get her to a hospital!"  
"And tell them what?"  
"That an enemy was tying up some lose ends," Gene walked up behind them Rhodey pulled Tony back to stop him attacking Gene. All he did was laugh, "Ghost did a good job, I see."  
"Why did you go after Pepper?" Yelled Tony, thrashing to make Rhodey let him go, but Rhodey didn't budge. "Simple, to get to you. What, aren't you to like an item now?"  
"N-NOT OFFICALLY, "Said Pepper who managed to get up a little bit, Rhodey looked at her and said, "Tony, she looks like you did after the crash," Tony looked at her chest, the damage was near identical . Gene saw Pepper moving and felt guilty, he never wanted Pepper hurt, just Tony. If killing Pepper meant destroying Tony then that was what he was going to do. He never expected to hear her voice again….

"Pepper, I thought you were…" Gene muttered, Rhodey finally let go of Tony juts ad Gene put on his rings and zapped out. Tony turned quickly to face Rhodey, "You know as well as I do that if I had gone to hospital I would have died, she needs to get back to the armoury, please Rhodey!" Tony begged,  
"You carry Pepper I'll carry the bags." 

"GHOSSSSSSSSSSSSST!" The Mandarin boomed as he walked up to him, "I thought you said you killed her!  
"I, I thought I had!"  
"It will be your last failure in this life!"


	4. Chapter 4

**Okay, uh hi, can I just say this story is completely separate for my other one for IMAA, don't know if anyone's actually reading this but if you do please review, and for those who may read with and not have a fan fiction account, you don't need an account to comment and review **

"Rhodey," tony said while carrying Pepper into the armoury, "Open the door to the medical suite." That room was only ever used once, when the Black Panther got hurt. Tony kept all the supplies he would need to fit another heart implant, in case something like this ever happened. He pulled out a bottle marked, 'high intensity heart beater'. It could keep your heart beating on it's own without an implant for 2 days. "Tony, if you had this why didn't you use it when you fought bigger villains that could kill you?" Rhodey questioned while locking the door.

"It can only be used once per person, if I took it now I would have 2 days before it shorted out the tech in my heart and once it wears of, you can't keep taking it, and death would be inevitable." He replied.

"So we only get one shot at this?" Rhodey said, fear in his eyes.  
"Yep, I screw this up, she's got 2 days."  
"Tony, you can't take that kind of pressure, if it goes wrong you will figure something out, and it won't go wrong, trust me!" Tony started to work; it was to risky to use an anaesthetic combined with his chemical, you it was a good thing Pepper was unconscious, the wiring wouldn't be easy. This was the first time he did it to someone else, or himself, he drew up the schematics, but Rhodey had to wire him up. Tony had sent Rhodey out in the war machine armour to make sure Gene or Ghost didn't attack while Tony was working on Pepper.

2 days later.

Tony woke up early to check on Pepper, he hadn't left the armoury since she got shot, who knew the computer chair was so comfy. He was lucky no one saw Pepper get shot, that would only have put her in more danger due to media and the press hunting her down. Tony went into the medical suite, if something went wrong she wouldn't wake up in an hour, Rhodey said everything would be fine, he told himself, she will wake up.

Madame Masque walked into the Mandarin's hideout. "Kay, fruit boy, what do you want." She taunted.  
"A common enemy destroyed." He replied.  
"Stane." She said reaching for her gun.

"Potts"

"You know who I am."  
"And you know who I am, know we know the obvious will you do it?"  
"Sure Gene, anything to eliminate _her._"

Pepper was having the dream again, but it was different this time. Ghost and the Mandarin were following Tony around. Taking the occasional shot and missing. Pepper was walking with Tony and got hit with a shot she knew was meant for Tony. She flashed back to the street with Gene, Tony saw Ghost, Ghost must have panicked and made a faulty shot. Gene covered it up by claiming it was meant for her. Then it returned to the nightmare she had nearly every night.

"Rhodey get in here" Tony yelled, Pepper's brainwaves were going nuts. He recorded them on a device meant to play dreams out like a movie; once she woke up he would find out what was wrong. "What! What happened?" Rhodey came in; his hair had gone frizzy making Tony laugh. Rhodey saw Pepper thrashing. "The dream again." Rhodey sighed. Tony was kind of pleased she was having it, it meant she would wake up.


	5. Chapter 5

**Okay, uh hi again, I will be trying to update this at least once a day if I can, as you can probably tell I Pepperony, Kay well back to the story **

Pepper woke up as she always did from that dream. Tony was standing with a file similar to a Doctor's next to her, "Morning, sleepy head," he smiled.  
"Hey Tony, what happened?" she asked with a confused tone to her voice.

"Take a look at your chest, "she did,  
"Wow, the shot was that bad? But you went through a plane crash to get one."

"Yea, but you were shot a pretty close range and closer to your heart, 2 more inches and that's all I'll say." Not that he could say more without trying to forget that horrible thought. "Oh and Pepper, we were able to record the nightmare you keep having, is it okay if we take a look at it?"

"Yea sure," she said getting out of the bed and heading for her room, "the start changed thought," and with that she left.

Tony sat for hours watching the footage and trying to understand how this nightmare was on permanent loop. Was he really the target? Was it him noticing Ghost that made him shot? Why was his death Pepper's worst nightmare? Billions of things ran through Tony's mind. They were put on hold when Pepper came in to recharge, "Hey Tony, does this thing turn on when you plug it in or is there a switch?" she asked, whatever way her mind worked, she was funny, "Nah, just plug it in" he smiled back at her, "Thanks, for everything, really, I mean it"  
"You would do the same for me." She really would, but with Tony knowing what her dream was, did he know how she felt about him, and still, did he feel the same? She would try beating around the bush one more time, She put the charger down and turned around not know he was right behind her, "Look Tony I…" he cut her off by pulling her into a kiss, Pepper forgot all she had been worried about with Ghost and Tony's feelings and the dreams, they both finally knew how each other felt. Tony pulled out of the kiss. "Wow", Pepper said  
"I know, my thoughts exactly."  
"Guess that means we're kin of together…."  
"Guess it does." It was a little awkward, Pepper broke it by pulling Tony into a hug and said what Tony had wanted to hear for months, "I love you, Tony Stark, I love the way you get flustered over the armour, and how you will risk your life for me and Rhodey. I just, love you." Tony smiled,  
"Pepper…I…"  
"Great! You still like Twitney, GOSH! I'm so embarrassed!" she said slumping against the table in the armoury, Tony laughed, "No, I love you Pepper." She looked up, "since I first met you, they way you lose yourself in thought, they way you don't want be hurt, I love YOU, not Whitney, I love Pepper Potts, and I don't give a damn who knows."  
".GOSH." Rhodey walking in his chin hitting the floor. They both waited to be told off, "It's about frickin' time!" Tony helped Pepper up

"Cos of how bad those dreams were I'm going to have to keep recording them, in case something triggers something external."  
"Kay" she was too wrapped up in Tony-land to care,  
"It will also record what you she if you wake up. In case Gene or Ghost show up."

It was half 10 now and Pepper was heading off to bed, luckily it was now summer but she was so tired after the drama that had been going on, she hooked herself up to the dream recorder and went to sleep. Everything was normal, no dream, until Pepper was woken up, "Whitney!"  
"Hello Pepper," she pulled out a bottle of the chemical Tony made, that you could only ever have one dosage of, "Or maybe goodbye." Before Pepper could struggle Whitney had shoved it down her throat, Whitney put on her mask and left as the chemical started to fry Pepper's heart implant, before she could yell fo Tony, she passed out


	6. Chapter 6

Tony walked into Peppers room with his head stuck in her medical "nightmare" papers, "Hey Pepper, I just need to unplug you to get the new data, your quiet this morning." Tony heard what sounded like a fizzling circuit, "Pepper?" he thought she was still asleep until he lifted the covers; the heart implant was nearly completely fried, it had burnt through her nightie and part of the duvet. "Oh god, Rhodey, RHODEY!" Rhodey came running in,  
"What happened?"  
"I don't know someone or maybe...the recorder, they fast forwarded until they saw the conversation with, "Whitney!" they both said together,  
"How did SHE get that chemical," Tony wondered,  
"SHOULDN'T YOU BE HELPING HER!  
"I can't..." Tony mumbled.  
"What did you say?" then Tony mumbled even lower, "What did you frickin' say Tony!"  
"I CAN'T HELP HER! SHE HAS 2 DAYS, NEITHER OF WITCH SHE WILL BE AWAKE FOR, SHE'S DONE FOR RHODEY AND I CAN'T DO ANYTHING!" Rhodey stood back in shock; Tony never ever gave up on anything, especially Pepper, "Then you have 2 days to think of something don't you, because the Tony Stark I know, MY best friend would never abandon anyone especially Pepper." Rhodey yelled at him, Tony smiled; Rhodey always knew what to say. Tony brought Pepper back to the armoury while Rhodey went through the tape. Whitney wasn't smart enough to come up with this alone, she was getting help. But who had it out for Pepper...or Tony, someone who was following them are trying to eliminate Tony, and who could have seen their first kiss while spying to tell ghost where to shoot. Who can work Whitney to do whatever he wants her to do... "Gene!"

Tony was trying to remove most of Pepper's heart implant, but there was a lot of shrapnel. He had less than 2 days before it was all over, but the circuits frying gave her awful burns across her chest, and a weird red and blue pattern surrounding where the implant was then it went down her stomach to her legs then ran up her neck, the further it spread the less time she had, Pepper's heart needed the implant, even on the heart pumper chemical, at the rate of the pattern spreading he only had just over a day before Pepper would start shutting down even if he did save her before the 2 days were up she would have forgotten recent memories, the kiss, iron man, her dad leaving, she may not even remember who Tony was. While Tony let the computer run an analysis on the red and blue pattern he checked on Rhodey. "Gene! He put Whitney up to this? I'm going to kill him, next time I see him Rhodey he's DONE!" Tony yelled,  
"What's gone wrong?" Rhodey always seemed to know what was up,  
"If I can't fix the damage in 24 hours then Pepper will start to lose her memory, If I save before the first 48 odds are she will forget the past year."  
"When she met you," Rhodey had figured it out, he couldn't imagine Tony losing someone else and ..."THAT WAS IT!"  
"What was what?"  
"You lost your Mom, thought you had lost your Dad but now he's missing, Gene saw how much it destroyed you, if he found a way to make Pepper not even know you existed or if she, you know, then..."  
"I would be broken enough for him to take down easily."

SCAN COMPLETE: ESTIMATED TIME UNTIL MEMORY LOSE 21 HOURS, The computer rang out. Tony went straight back to working on Pepper. Gene couldn't win; Pepper was going to make it alive, with a full memory. With 3 hours to go he had a new heart implant fitted and was flushing the chemical out of her body, he hated seeing her with wires and tubes coming out of her but it was the only way to save her. All she needed now was a jumpstart and replacement blood, she lost a lot to the chemical. Blood banks and hospitals were out of the option, he couldn't ask Rhodey, that much blood loss paired with the heart implant charge could be fatal. He checked Pepper's blood type, followed by his own, 'If it is fatal to her it will be fatal to you', Tony thought, so he charged up his heart beforehand. "Computer, drain said blood amount from Ark 1 to Ark 2. He decided to name the heart implant and ark reactor, the jumpstart and blood replace meant had to be done at the exact same time, one thick tube connected their arms, and four chunky wires connected their ark reactors, "Computer, If anything goes wrong notify Rhodey"  
"Affirmative."  
"Right, start jumpstart and blood transfer in 3, 2..."


	7. Chapter 7

"One!" Tony yelled, he cried out in pain as he lost a large amount of blood and a even bigger amount of power from the ark reactor, But Pepper's was nearly fully charged, no chemical traces in her system and her blood level were nearly at a safe level. WARNING! ARK 1 LOSING TO MUCH BLOOD AND POWER!  
"Has Ark 2 reached survival levels?"  
"Negative."  
"Then fill form Ark one until survival levels are reached then automatically disconnect."  
"Notifying Rhodey and command recognized."  
"Rhodey is going to kill me, "Tony said, he had fallen to his knees, with hundreds of warnings going off, "that is if Pepper doesn't first." And with that he passed out.

Rhodey came running into the armoury, "TONY!" He ran over to him just as the computer said "medium survival levels on Ark 2 reached survival chance 69%. WARNING Ark 1 survival levels too low, blood needed fast." Rhodey was confused,  
"Blood, Tony you idiot! Didn't you think that if it could kill her it could sure as hell kill you?"The ark reactor was flickering, Rhodey tried to charge it but apparently Tony was too weak to charge, he needed blood, and that he gave to Pepper so she wouldn't die. It sucks when your best friend has to keep playing the hero. Tony woke up a little, "Did it work? Is Pepper ok?"  
"She will be fine, but you might not be, Tony how stupid can you get?"  
"I had to try!"  
"You could now be the dead one not her!"  
"Then I win." Smiled Gene, he flashed into the armoury about a minute ago, "Pepper will be fine, I plan to leave her alone once you're out of the picture," Tony tried to stand up and fight him but Gene threw him down, "Funny Stark, If I were you I would tell Rhodes to take Pepper into the medical suite, lock the door and don't come on or you die on the spot." Tony nodded at Rhodey and he moved Pepper Gene locked the door for the outside; no way would Rhodes get out to help Tony now. Tony Tried to stand but just couldn't, "I don't choose blood types but you and Pepper having the same was a brilliant stroke of luck, it was easy getting Whitney to KILL Pepper as she thought but jealousy is power, Stark. You of all People should know that!"  
"Don't hurt her again!"  
"I won't, but don't worry these pictures are already circulating around New York!" Tony with the Iron man mask open, Tony and Pepper kissing, Tony and Pepper with their ark reactors, "You both survive this, you won't make the next one, or the next one after that!" With that he hit Tony, the rings impact with his near lifeless face torn from his eye to his cheek, "Sorry Tony that may leave a mark." Tony got kicked around the armoury with Rhodey banging on the door to get out to help him. Pepper woke up, to Tony lying on the ground weaker than she had ever seen him with Gene kicking the crap out of him, "GENE! STOP IT!" Pepper yelled! Gene's head shot around and Tony's lifted slightly with a smile, "Pepper," They said in unison. "It worked, Tony smiled. "Pepper what was the last thing you remember?"  
"Whitney shoving that chemical down my throat."  
"She's fine, ughhh!"  
"Gene! Stop it! He lost a lot of Blood and Power!" Rhodey yelled at him!  
"I did that to Tony, but I didn't ask him, he had time to think of something else!"  
"Not before you started to lose your memory, of the past year," Pepper translated it,  
"My memory of Tony." She turned her head to see Gene have a finally punch then Tony didn't move, "Tony?" Pepper gasped,  
"Tony!" Rhodey cried,  
"Mr Stark?" the computer pondered.  
"Iron Man" Gene said with a smile, "I'm the guy who destroyed him! Mwa ha ha ha!"


	8. Chapter 8

"This can't be happening," Pepper thought, "It's just another one of my dreams." She told herself. But if this was a dream it felt different. She never normally felt any kind of pain in dreams, even when Whitney fried her heart implant, in her dream she felt nothing, no this was real, and Tony wasn't getting up. It flashed back to her dreams, iron man shattered next to Gene, and the worse ones where it was Tony. Either way he never got up. "Gene, the dreams were your doing weren't they?" Pepper asked now furious, "Yep, the fifth ring has access to a subconscious level of its subject, witch had to be you, you get freaked so you don't leave Tony's side, he always sees you getting hurt, and will always feel it was his fault, win win…..for me that is" Gene laughed with a smile. He did feel a bit bad when he saw the look on Pepper's face, so he unlocked the door and flashed out. Rhodey burst through the door to Tony, "Tony? C'mon wake up!" Pepper could just stand there,  
"This is all my fault."  
"What?"  
"He wouldn't have done the blood thing if I fought off Whitney, or if I moved so ghost missed. It's my fault he is like this, Rhodey." Rhodey stood up and hugged Pepper, "No, it isn't, if we are going to save him I need to get some things from the medical suite, sit with him and keep his head elevated." Pepper sat next to tony, putting the pillow from her bed, she didn't know why she carried it in though, and slid it under his head, she was surprised it was actually possible for him to still be bleeding. "Tony? Are you even in there?" 

"Tony? Are you even in there?" rang through Tony's head. Pepper! She was alive, he did it, he wanted to shout back I'm here I'm fine stop crying but he couldn't even open his eyes. "Rhodey, are you sure?"  
"He's in there Pepper, There's just a lot of damage that's all." Pepper was scared, he could hear it in her voice, and he could feel it when her tear fell on the hand she was holding. "You know this is my worst nightmare, don't you? You shouldn't have done that for me, I know blood banks wouldn't help due to time restrains but Tony, yourself? If you knew this was the outcome why did you do it?" because I couldn't lose you, Pepper. If only she could hear his replies, if he could make one movement…

"Rhodey, his eyes are opening!" Pepper yelled, "Tony?" he managed to get one eye open and looked at Pepper, tears rolling down her face, "H-h-how bad is it," Tony said with a sharp intake of breath. "You might not make it, buddy" Rhodey said coming over to him, Pepper gasped, Tony wanted to hug her and say everything will be fine but he couldn't, "Tony, do you remember after the plane crash, he blood that filled up in the armour?"  
"A-a bit, oww,"

"The computer has it kept; it has traces of the chemical in it thought, "  
"Then get the chemical out!" Pepper yelled at him.

"It isn't that, ahh, that simple." Tony flinched.  
"To clean the blood would take 45 minutes, tops, but Tony doesn't have that time," Rhodey sighed. He hated telling Pepper but he hated more the fact he was going to lose his best friend. "Isn't there some kind of acid that reverses the effects of the chemical, like vinegar does?"  
"Vinegar! Pepper you genius!" Rhodey yelled, "Enough vinegar in the blood could cancel out the chemical,"  
"But it would corrode my ark reactor from the inside,"  
"Not if we use half the blood to get you moving…"  
"AND CLEAN THE OTHER HALF!" Pepper yelled.

Pepper had to wait outside, until Rhodey had finished, neither of them wanted her seeing Tony in that way. Rhodey got him to the medical suite and got the vinegary blood in his system. While the other half was cleaning, he found another ark reactor, the extra strong one Tony built, one that can withstand longer, and only needed charged once a month. It was made in case anything like this should happen.

Pepper sat outside waiting, hoping. Rhodey walked out to see her, "Hey, Pepper."  
"Hey." She said her voice breaking halfway through it.  
"It worked."  
"Can I see him then?"  
"No, He had enough blood to charge his heart but no clean blood, he is still in pretty bad state, but in 15 minutes he will have the clean blood and he'll be fine, Trust me."

Tony suddenly got a pain in his side, like a knife being twisted around. "Arghh, Rhodey, Pepper, someone help!"

WARNING CHECMICAL LEVELS TOO HIGH FOR BODY TO WITHSTAND: 4 MINUTES UNTIL CARIDO ARREST.  
"How long until the clean blood is ready?"  
"Five minutes."  
"Great."


	9. Chapter 9

Rhodey walked back into the armoury 2 minutes later to see Tony screaming in agony and the computer on a countdown. "Computer, are the chemical levels low enough to use in the systems?"

"Affirmative, all chemical blood must be removed first."  
"Do it, quickly."  
"Drinking, filling with uncontaminated blood." All Rhodey could do was wait. It seemed like the longest 2 minutes of his life. "Chemical blood drained, clean blood filled. Survival chance= 69%"  
"Same as Pepper's and she is fine." Rhodey said with a smile, he ran to get Pepper.

"Tony! You're going to be okay!" said Pepper running up to Tony and putting her arms around him. That was the first thing to make Tony smile.  
"So are you, Pepper." He pushed her out of the hug so he could get up, he pulled his shirt on and examined the damage to his face, "It won't scar but Gene is right, it will leave a mark for a while."  
"At least you're alive, both of you are," Rhodey said.

Gene was furious. "Why won't he just die!" at least Tony was being revealed as Iron Man. Suddenly a huge parcel came to the door, 'Thanks for yelling at me, Ghost x' inside was all evidence Tony was Iron Man, no one had found out.

2 months later

Hey were starting back to school that day, entering the school to gasps and claps. Gasps for the huge cut doing down Tony's face, the claps, because Tony and Pepper were holding each others hands. "Finally, IT'S ABOUT TIME YOU TO GOT TOGETHER!" Happy cheered. Rhodey saw Whitney walking by, "Whitney, why did you…."  
"Save it Rhodey, I'm sorry but she is ok so why do you care?"  
"I was just going to ask if you wanted to grab a burger or something later." Whitney's face lit up, he was no Tony, but he was a close second, "Sure!" she said linking arms with Rhodey.

Tony and Pepper walked to Pepper's locker, the note that fell put scared them. 'Watch your back, Potts. And I'm watching you Stark, Gene.'  
"No one is coming between us again, Pepper" Tony smiled. Then the explosion happened….

TO BE CONTINUED IN…..IN THE LINE OF FIRE


End file.
